Mother Goose Leg 3, Day 1 - Ketchikan to Charlie’s Cove

Our latest adventure began at 7 am, on an incredibly calm morning in Ketchikan, Alaska. The weather for the past two days had been horrendous. Strong winds blew the continual rainfall sideways, as whitecaps covered the Tongass Narrows. So, everyone was very pleased to wake up to partly cloudy skies and not a breath of wind. The weather conditions made our departure easy, as everyone cast off from the docks in Bar Harbor and motored out into the still waters of the Tongass Narrows. Each of the goslings fell into line behind Deception, and thus Leg 3 of Mother Goose 2010 had begun.
We began our day by cruising south, away from Ketchikan and out into Clarence Strait. Because of the foul weather over the past few days, we expected to see some bumpy seas as we cruised through the straits and into the exposed waters of Dixon Entrance. As we cruised along, however, only a few small waves rippled the ocean’s surface. The seabirds were out in full force. Everywhere we looked, we saw groups of common murres floating along the surface. These handsome tuxedo-print birds “fly” underwater to pursue the small fish on which they feed. In this part of the world, the chicks had recently grown large enough to leave the nest. When this happens, the males lead their single chick out to good foraging grounds and teach them how to fish. As we cruised along, we saw several of these father-juvenile pairs fishing in the still waters.

As we rounded the southern tip of Prince of Wales Island and became fully exposed to the Pacific Ocean, a bit of ocean swell caused the boats to bob up and down. Still, the wind remained low and the ocean’s surface smooth, giving us a ride that was smooth overall. Along the way, we spotted several humpback whales feeding along the rocky shoreline. We weren’t able to get as close a look at these animals as we might have liked, but we took it as a good sign of potential encounters to come. Before long, we moved in behind the protection of the barrier islands. We rounded a headland called Point Marsh, and wove our way through a series of small islets and exposed rocks until, at last, we reached Charlie’s Cove, our anchorage for the evening. Immediately after we pulled in, we spotted 3 Sitka black-tailed deer on the shore, a bald eagle soaring over the boats, and a sea otter frolicking in a kelp bed.

After everyone had dropped anchor, we all took time to get settled in, nap, read, and just generally relax in the beautiful setting. As dinnertime rolled around, we all gathered on Deception to enjoy appetizers, cocktails, and a wonderful potluck style dinner. We feasted on freshly baked bread, wild rice, salad, wild Alaskan salmon, and boysenberry pie. We dispersed for the evening well-fed and ready to crawl into bed after our long day of cruising.